LeBron James yesterday set the record for the longest time in between a player’s first and last game (playoffs + regular season)
Surprisingly enough, this record wasn’t yet held by him.
It was held by Kevin Willis, longtime Atlanta Hawks and journeyman power forward, who after playing 20 seasons in the NBA ending in 2005, decided to come back for the 2006-2007 at age 44. He appeared in five games at the end of the regular season in 2007.
His first game was October 26th, 1984, in the same year Jordan was drafted, and his last game was April 18th, 2007, overall an 8,209-day span.
LeBron’s first game was October 29th, 2003, and game 2 versus Houston was on April 21st, 2026, an 8,210-day span. LeBron, of course, will add to this record.
Another longevity record for LeBron that will prove exceedingly hard to break (especially as Willis’s record was rather contrived, respectfully).